Pilgrim

 Pilgrim 

If you’re a poor pilgrim

You’ve never arrived -

The journey that starts

On the day of your birth

Will end on the day that you die.  

You cannot retire

When there isn’t a pension

The summit of virtue

Is never achieved

Let’s thank God indeed. 

Living is striving 

Breathing means moving

Walking means sinning

As Jesus admitted

Seven times a day. 

The just man is humble

For the just man will stumble 

On life’s pilgrim paths

No matter how holy

Must walk calmly and. slowly.  

We cannot give up

Like birds over water

We must flap our wings

Til we take our last breath

On the day of our death. 

The front door to heaven

Cannot be stormed 

We must ring on the doorbell 

False prophets selling false keys 

Should sound the alarm. 

For Newman was right

When he wrote of the evening

Of the Lord giving peace 

As he calls to their rest

The humble, the just.